How to Make Your Kitchen Beautiful with Glass Cabinet Doors

PART 2 | STYLISH GLASS DOOR DETAILS

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been on white kitchen overload lately. It’s not that I don’t love a classic white kitchen, it’s just that there are soooo many “Plain Jane” white kitchens out there. Perhaps they have some pretty light pendants and some cool bar stools which help to pull them out of the boredom bin a little, but still, the cabinetry……is……so……dull. In my opinion, there is just no excuse for this. The internet is also overflowing with enough fabulous ideas that the person willing to do a little digging (that’d be you because you’re reading this article) can be rewarded with a beautiful, timeless style that has a little bit of personality to it. One of these ways you can add a little seasoning to your kitchen design is with creative glass cabinet doors.

Over the years, I have found that people will start their kitchen design journey with a more adventurous spirit than where they end up. After working through design details and layout, there seems to be this process at the very end which is driven by fear. To keep their most significant investment classic and timeless, people will err on what they deem to be the “safe” side of design. They will strip away features that would otherwise give their kitchen needed character. I highly encourage you to stick to a classic style that won’t give way to a passing trend, but here’s the thing…classic does not translate to boring! In fact, quite the opposite. Consider just where the term “classic” comes from. The ancient Greeks and Romans have given us timeless design details and principles which we are still using thousands of years later. There is absolutely nothing boring about Classic.

In Part 1 of my series on How to Make Your Kitchen Beautiful, we focused on the ways to make the interiors of your cabinetry stand out with pretty details, such as using specialty finishes or wallpaper, as well as having backless glass cabinets that showcase your tile or marble. In Part 2 of this series, I’m going to showcase some ideas about dressing up the exterior with stylish glass door details. Of course, I’m including lots of beautiful options for glass door muntins, but I’m also going to suggest some tweaks to the classic ideas that will really deliver a home run for you. If glass doors are outside of your comfort zone, then rest assured that most of these ideas can be interpreted fairly well with mirror instead of glass.

Creating Character with Glass Cabinet Doors

GLASS DOOR MUNTINS

Before we look at some exciting things that you can do with glass cabinet doors in your kitchen, let’s begin by looking at some different styles of glass doors. I’m starting to see more innovation in regards to the muntin patterns in custom cabinetry. While the classic designs are always lovely, it can also be cool to take a particular architectural feature of your home and try to capture that in the pattern of your glass doors…or perhaps even picking up a pattern in your backsplash tile.

If the rest of your cabinetry consists of classic, recessed panel doors, then I think you can step out just a bit on the glass cabinetry without fear that it will date your kitchen.

The special muntins on these glass cabinet doors are as elegant and classic as they come. A great example of how “classic” need not be boring!

Source: Mallory Mathison Design

Beveled, “true divided lights” on these glass cabinet doors provide just the right amount of luxury and sparkle for a traditional kitchen.

Source: Heather Hungeling Design | Wentworth Place Project

An X style of muntins for glass cabinet doors has become very popular and has become a signature look for several British cabinet makers.

Source: Unknown

A classic, and very traditional style of muntins for these glass cabinet doors.

Source: Home Bunch

A Chippendale pattern on the muntins of these glass cabinet doors, makes a unique statement for displaying china and serving pieces.

Source: Plain & Fancy

The designer, Dana Wolter, created a custom muntin pattern for this kitchen’s glass cabinet doors, and reflected the same detail in the open cabinet on the bottom.

Source: Dana Wolter Interiors via Traditional Home

“Scissor” muntins are a nice transitional option for glass cabinet doors.

Source: Christine Sheldon Design

Muntins on these glass cabinet doors are a subtle reference to the raised panel on the lower cabinetry.

Source: Veranda

The special style of muntins is divided between the glass cabinet doors of the top box and the lower cabinet.

Source: Pacific Peninsula Group

The vintage appeal of curvy glass cabinet doors draws your eye through the cased opening to the butler’s pantry beyond. Special detail on transom is repeated on island end panels.

Source: Heather Hungeling Design | Julep Lane Project

LEADED GLASS DOORS

I don’t see a lot of leaded glass doors around, but I feel like they have become more forgotten than dated. These two examples prove that they can absolutely be classic. The leaded effect can be used with glass (top image) or with mirror (bottom image) with equally good results. Either way, it’s an excellent option for incorporating some light and sparkle, while making it a little harder to see what you have inside the cabinet.

Leaded glass cabinet doors may not be common place right now, but they are still a timeless alternative to cabinetry muntins for creating interest in your kitchen.

Source: Will Mac Design

Leaded glass cabinet doors are melded with the privacy of mirror to create a stylish storage hutch in this kitchen.

Source: 2to5 Design via Dering Hall

These have to be the prettiest leaded glass cabinet doors I’ve ever seen. Notice how the cabinet was made backless so that you can see the movement of the marble through the glass?

Source: House Beautiful

DOUBLE STACKED KITCHEN CABINETS WITH GLASS

We all love tall wall cabinets. If your ceilings are higher than ten feet, it can be tough to make your wall cabinets that tall without risking the doors warping. In these instances, double stacking your cabinetry gives you the height you need but also gives you some welcome visual partitioning. Combine that with the impact of glass doors, and you’ve got a really stunning look. When going this route, it is best to keep the glass style on the simpler side. This works well with plain glass doors as in the image below. It also works well with the X-style of muntins, but it is imperative to keep the proportions in check so that the X looks the same on the top box as it does in the lower cabinet.

Double stacking glass cabinet doors can be a great way to get added height but add some visual partitioning.

Source: Heather Hungeling Design | Julep Lane via BH&G

THE “BUILT-IN” EFFECT

I just love the old-fashioned appeal of this built-in display cabinet with the arched glass doors. The vertical v-groove paneling is an added nice touch. A single display piece like this, integrated into a kitchen, can give your room all the character it needs. I always enjoy the look of any cabinetry that is built into the wall. It adds instant style points in my book because it gets you away from that look of a bunch of cabinets just hanging on the wall. It takes a bit of special planning to create these “voids” in the wall (as most spaces don’t have them to begin with), but it’s worth the extra effort.

Anytime you can build cabinetry into the wall, the look is instantly elevated. It takes advanced planning to create these little spaces, but they create “moments” in the design that are very valuable. These pretty glass cabinet doors could anchor th…

Source: Signature Kitchens

BEVELED GLASS

I wasn’t sure how I should title this example because I was torn between making it an example of an arched glass wall cabinet and my desire to point out how fabulous the beveled glass looks. Notice how much sparkle you get off of these doors? In most of the other glass cabinet images featured in this post, you’ll notice how beveled glass is rarely used. That’s because it’s a pain in the neck for the cabinet maker! Very few cabinet makers offer “true divided lights” as they are sometimes called. The glass in that arched top box took me the better part of a year to have made. We went through three different glass bevelers before employing an artisan studio who had to bevel the tiny angled corners by hand (they were too small to fit in the bevel machine). As a result, I’ve learned more than I ever wish to know about beveled glass and I fully appreciate why it’s a difficulty for most cabinet makers. If you can find a manufacturer who offers this, the end result is just gorgeous. It makes the doors feel heavy and extra luxurious.

Source: Heather Hungeling Design | Wentworth Place Project

SLIDING GLASS DOORS

I once had a client who reminisced about memories of the sliding glass doors in her grandmother’s kitchen. Up until that point, I didn’t see any practical reason to have them. However, my client’s sentimental memory has colored the way that I see sliding glass doors ever since. I would love to incorporate these into a kitchen for a client someday. They do bring back the idea of Grandma’s pretty little things stored away and brought out for special Sunday suppers with the family, don’t they?

Sliding glass cabinet doors can bring a sense of nostalgia to a kitchen design.

Source: Minnie Peters

TALL GLASS CABINET DOORS

Many of the examples so far, as well as the ones below, prove that you don’t need to adhere to the conventional idea of hanging a glass wall cabinet on either side of the kitchen sink. In fact, taking a different approach to introducing glass cabinetry to the kitchen usually brings far more character to the room. Consider the example below. Instead of glass wall cabinets, the designer clustered tall, shallow glass display units on this one wall, thereby creating a dramatic and unexpected focal point as you walk into the kitchen.

Clustering a few tall units with glass cabinet doors together creates a stronger focal point - especially when displaying a collection.

Source: Traditional Home

…or try flanking a pantry with pretty glass doors.

Consider using a pair of glass cabinet doors to flank the entrance to a butler’s pantry. What a pretty statement this arrangement (by Minnie Peters) makes in the hallway.

Source: Minnie Peters

…or make your glass display unit look like a piece of furniture tucked into the rest of the cabinetry.

This wide display unit, featuring beveled glass cabinet doors, is designed to look like a piece of furniture tucked into the surrounding cabinetry.

Source: Heather Hungeling Design | Wentworth Place Project

MIRRORED CABINET DOORS

Mirrored doors can be a creative way to capture the same lightness that glass brings, without giving up the ability to conceal. I love how the designer, in the image below, combined the tall glass display units with a mirrored one. Your eye almost skims right over the fact that it’s different, but the mirrored doors actually conceal the pantry.

A set of mirrored doors (concealing a pantry) sit right next to a row of tall, glass cabinet doors, but they blend together so well that your eye hardly picks up on it.

Source: Suzanne Kasler via Traditional Home

ARCHED GLASS DOORS

If you want to give your glass display cabinet loads of sophistication, just arch the doors. Since kitchens are full of straight lines, anything with a curve stands apart from the rest of the room. In the image below, the designer underlined that principle further by tucking the display unit into the wall and specifying it in an accent finish. The dark stained wood gives it a furniture-like appeal and makes it look reminiscent of something one would find in an older home.

Arched glass cabinet doors give this tall display unit extra interest. Your eyes are naturally drawn to curves in a kitchen, which is usually full of straight lines and rectangular shapes.

Source: Caden Design Group via DecorPad

So that’s it for Post #2 in this Series! If you only remember one thing that I showed you here today, let it be that there are so many clever ways that you can incorporate glass into your kitchen. Try not to fall into the conventional trap of only using them to flank a kitchen window or a range. Instead, consider how dramatic you can make your glass features with a little bit more thought and planning.

Next week, I’ll wrap up this Series, with Post #3, which will show you many ways you can bring a little added character to your solid doors as well. While I always advocate keeping most of your cabinetry classic, I will show you how to add tremendous character by merely adding a few of these touches into select areas of your kitchen.

Break out of the “boring white kitchen” syndrome with these tips on using glass cabinetry to create stunning character and visual interest in your next kitchen. Think beyond the old idea of using glass wall cabinetry to flank a window and learn how …